Christian Girl-Music

I've never liked BarlowGirl.

On an unrelated topic, I'm a terrible person...

Oh yes, I am. BarlowGirl is a group of Christian sisters with a ministry specifically aimed at encouraging young girls to maintain a high standard of purity, modesty, and love for the Lord. They are catchy, have a positive message, and they actually play their own instruments, you have to like them.

But I don't, and I hate myself for it. Rather, I feel bad for not hating myself for it...

I've tried, really, but Christian female artists always let me down. I did like Rebeccas St James for about a year circa 1997 and, apparently, I was obsessed with the song El Shaddai as a 3 year old (which is just a weird song for a toddler to sing) but aside from Breath of Heaven, since I hit middle school, Christian girl music has been consistently letting me down.

And I have tried.

I tried with Jennifer Knapp (she lasted longer than most)... I'm loving her newest album Letting Go!
and Nicole Nordman...
and Joy Williams...  *update* Joy Williams officially redeemed herself with The Civil Wars, amazing.
and Bethany Dillon...
and Audrey Assad (though I really like her lyrics)...
and Genevieve Falleur (dig that folky vibe)...
and Kari Jobe...
and JJ Heller...

Generally, they'll give me one or two songs that make me say, "Oh, this is nice," and then I get bored. I mean, i'm sure they love Jesus and are He is honored by their ministry and, musically, they're okay, good even. Just...boring.

And before you get mad at me, you think so too! When you suggest a Christian female artist to me it usually goes something like, "try x out, she's pretty good."

Pretty good? Really, that's the standard?

I generally end up hurting or offending really nice people when I admit that "I don't really like x, she's not that great/interesting of a musician/writer," and end up looking like an impossible to please jerk. Well can be kind of a jerk, but I'm not impossible to please.

I can listen to Adele for hours and never stop smiling.

I'm not interested in "pretty good music" that gets a bye in the Christian music scene because it happens to be about about Jesus, not when I can listen to someone with an interesting, creative sound; surprising chord progressions; driving energy; outstanding, clever, deep lyrics; and dynamic vocals. I'm not looking for Avril Lavigne vanilla-pop, I'm looking for an Adele/Fiona Apple/Regina Spektor/Norah Jones/Feist grade female artist.

The only Christian female vocalist who I will happily choose to listen to (presently) is Lacey from Flyleaf. She is (they are) a very talented and creative vocalist and writer. But it's Flyleaf...and sometimes I wanna be happy.

Now I don't think there needs to be a "Christian version" of everything, I certainly don't plan on giving up my love-affair with Adele even if a Jesus-loving alternative comes along, but I'd love to be elevated to musical nirvana by a song about Jesus rather than an ex-boyfriend. And I refuse to believe that there aren't any insanely talented, creative, risk-taking Christian female singer/songwriters out there, especially because I personally know at least two.

To be fair, I really didn't give JJ Heller a fair try is actually pretty cool!

Maybe I'm not being fair here, maybe I am confusing "good" with "indie/singer-songwriter/alternative/baroque-pop." That's not really fair, but I'm frustrated and not feeling particularly fair.

Any other suggestions?

****************PEACE OFFERING***************

Lest I be, again, labeled as impossible to please let me tell you that there are female Christian artists that I enjoy.

I happen to be a huge fan of Brook Fraser's writing for Hillsong United (Desert Song, Hosanna, You'll Come) I was excited to listen to her solo music. I love her perky, fun, and unique sound (I occasionally get a sweet Joni Mitchell vibe!). But her lyrics, while interesting and well written, are sometimes a bit ambiguous on the message. Again, that's totally cool but it doesn't do much to dispel the myth that a girl can't write creative, poetic lyrics explicitly about Jesus.

Actually, Brook has worked pretty hard to keep herself from being categorized as a "CCM artist," which may be why I like her.

(It doesn't hurt that she's a very active supporter of Charity:Water and World Vision)

So there, I've got one! And because I'm feeling generous, I'll share a secret with you.

One of my favorite Christian singer-songwriters (one of the aforementioned "two") is my friend Hannah Jean. She's in the early stages yet, but I'm excited to see the music that she produces as her career grows.

Just Dance...

A friend recently shared an interesting debate she encountered while organizing a dance for a Christian education institution, apparently there was some question regarding the music. Specifically, someone asked if Katy Perry’s “Teenage Dream” would be inappropriate. I mean she's a PK, right?

I don’t know, would it be inappropriate for an institution that advocates abstinence, purity, and combatting an “oversexed” culture to sponsor an event where Christian boys and girls dance together to a song discussing teenage romance, co-ed road trips, drinking, sex, and skinny jeans?

Hm, let’s pray about it.

But, honestly, this issue bothered me more than it should have. I suspect because I love dancing and…and I listen to Katy Perry.

Sure she celebrates kissing girls and wearing daisy dukes, but her music is fun--yes, it is--and who can hate on the song Firework?

This came up again on Easter when my brother broke out his recently acquired a Kinect and, with it, the game Dance Central. A group of Christians celebrating Resurrection Day by spending the afternoon dancing to Lady Gaga, Soulja Boy, Lil Wayne, and Pitbull.

Oh, and my 5 year old niece got in on the action too.

 *cringe*

But, oh man, we had a good time.

Maybe it's just me, I am, after all, a dirty girl with a potty mouth, but it has never sat well with me that, if I wanted to dance, I had to go outside the auspices of Christianity to do it. And widely outside of it.

The unfortunate truth is that I wouldn’t be comfortable playing this game with certain groups of my church friends.

(Not because I’m afraid I’ll look stupid, I’m an awesome dancer; I have Shaun-T and my Hip Hop Abs dvd)

I think the breakdown occurs when we equate dancing with sex and then, in turn, equate sex with sin (another conversation for another day).

But this doesn't have to be.

Then Miriam the prophetess, Aaron's sister, took a tambourine and led all the women as they played their tambourines and danced. Exodus 15:20

And David danced before the LORD with all his might… Michal, the daughter of Saul, looked down from her window and saw King David leaping and dancing before the LORD… 2 Sam 6:14, 16

In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. Romans 12:6

Maybe the question shouldn’t be, “is dancing a bad thing?” but rather, “Why don’t we dance around here?”

Maybe it’s time for The Church to reclaim the art of the dance (cue Spanish guitar riff).

I’m not exactly sure how to do that. The truth is, I can’t think of a lot of Christian dance music, though I think David Crowder could be a contender. Even so, I just can’t imagine shaking my booty to DCB the way I can to Lady Gaga. And I do like to shake it. I’m talking, like-a-polaroid-picture, shake it.

(It’s the timbrels, we need more timbrels...)

I’m hoping that I simply led a sheltered existence, are there churches wherein dancing is a thriving part of worship and fellowship? Where are they so I can start attending?

What do you think?

1. Why are we afraid to dance in the church
2. Which Christian artist would you dance to?

Church Music - Dance[!]

----UPDATE!!----

Because God likes thinks its funny to make an idiot out of me approximately three seconds after I posted this, someone mentioned Beckah Shae. I was pretty cynical because I don't have a lot of faith in Christian female artists (I know, sorry) but I'd dance to this. Virtuously!

It was also a huge oversight not to mention tobyMac, the patriarch and, arguably, the MVP of Christian hip hop.

(this is for you, Whit)

Christian Concerts

I went to a Christian concert last night.

May I just take a moment and tell you how much I love going to Christian concerts? We might not be passing around the doobies or have wet t-shirt contests (what?), but Christian concerts are awesome.

I actually came up with five solid reasons that Christian concerts are cooler than secular concerts.

ONE

Often in a church and most scary people don't like going into churches (which is a whole other issue itself). If they are in a church, the seats are almost always padded and you can get ridiculously close to the stage which makes throwing your hat onto the stage in the hopes that tobyMac is going to wear it for the rest of the night much easier. That is, if tobyMac still played in churches...

TWO

There are always at least five moms there ready to shut down the mosh pit if it gets a little too rowdy. I cannot tell you how many times someone has come on stage and said, "Okay guys I know you're all just having fun but a 12 year old girl just got punched in the face. Let's tone it down."

THREE

They are usually raising money for some great cause and that just feels good. Last night they were selling water bottles for $1 (which is a deal you could only get in a church) to benefit the women of Africa. All of them, apparently. If you're really lucky, the artist performing will be giving away a copy of one of their less-popular albums if you donate.

FOUR

You always have a couple of vanloads of youth group kids. Where you have youth groupers you have dorky clapping patterns, chanting, and a general increase in innocent frivolity. Teenagers, if you can get past them waving their cell phones during a worship song and the huge white-boy afro in front of you, make everything a little funner. Plus teenagers think I'm cool and I like that. 

FIVE

People, in general are nice.

Now we all know that there are plenty of people who are really kind and considerate who aren't Christians and many more Christians who are not always kind. BUT, to be fair, most Trekkies behave fairly normally in everyday life, but if I go to a Trekkie conference (or whatever they're called, Trekfest?), I expect to hear some Klingon. When you get us all together at a Christian event, you have to have a mop on hand to clean up the oozing niceness.

(I met a sweet girl in the bathroom who complimented me on my hair.)

Case in point: last night the adorably uncomfortable little lady who owns the Christian bookstore, while trying to emcee the concert via note cards (that might be number 4.5), interrupted the crown warmer's act to let everyone know that a couple of Youth Groups had just arrived so we all had to, wait for it, "scootch in" to make room for them. And everyone did!

The nice man playing a christianized cover of "Wonderwall" (ooh that might be number 4.75) didn't even complain.

Christians can be so nice sometimes. Just don't rip on Michael W Smith or write a book vaguely insinuating that there is no hell.

We will destroy you.

Shawn McDonald, Closer



Pragmatism and "Praying about it"

Have you ever considered how incredibly odd a Christian must seem to a non Christian? If you are one of the 15% of Christians who converted as adult, then you likely have firsthand knowledge. But if you are one of the 85 out of 100 Christians who are "lifers," you may not be aware that you are weird.
You get excited about weird things, you behave in unexplainable ways, and you react in surprising ways to things that other people do not even notice.

And you say cryptic things, like:

...we don't know God's plan.
...he's just having a "wilderness" experience.
...I have a heart for worship.
...you need to spend some time sitting at the feet of Jesus

Though most citizens of a christianized culture are probably familiar with these statements, they really don't really know what they mean. To be honest, I don't really think we know what they mean. Oh, we may know the bible answer, but I doubt we'd be able to explain the spiritual ramifications of these statements, even to one another.

Like me, you might find this amusing, but it actually does matter. Take, for example, the ever popular

I need to pray about it.

On the surface, this is a very wise statement. Of course we should pray about everything, we're taught that from childhood and it even says it in the bible (Phil 4:6). One of the cornerstones of the Christian faith is absolute dependence on God for direction in our life. So, obviously, when someone says they need to pray about it, it means they need to consult God before they make that particular decision.

Makes sense right?

Maybe, but think for a moment, if you will, about the times when we play this particular card:

...we're thinking about having a baby, but we need to pray about it...

...did you hear about that mission trip to Uganda? Sounds awesome! I'll have to pray about it...

...I'm thinking about going back to school, but I need to pray about it...
...we're thinking about sponsoring a child from Kenya, but I need to pray about it...

...you need help in the children's ministry? I'll have to pray about it...

...I want to got to that party, but there's going to be alcohol. I should pray about it...

...the meals/hospitality ministry is really short on volunteers? Cool, I'll pray about it...

...the Red Cross needs money to help earthquake victims in Japan, but I think I need to pray about it...

In these situations, what does I'll pray about it, actually mean in practice? Why do you need to pray about it? How are you going to pray about it? What is the end result going to be?

I think I'll pray about it, is the Christian equivalent to We should have a meeting about it. It really should help you make a decision but, practically, it is just a way of avoiding making a decision. If you don't think so, think with me to all of the times you've said, "I'll pray about it," and then ask yourself how often you've actually prayed about it.

I mean an intentional, specific, pointed time of prayer. Did you seek advice from others? Did you look it up in the bible? If you said it in response to a request for help, did you ever get back to the person who asked?

Or was it just a way to get out of an uncomfortable situation long enough to forget about it so you could do whatever you wanted?

Pragmatism is a philosophy which basically states that the only solution to a problem is the one that actually works. When it comes to "praying about something," I admit, I get a little pragmatic: if it doesn't work, it's not a real answer.

And, to be honest, I sometimes feel there are a few things we really do not need to pray about. Please do not think that I'm saying God doesn't care or that we shouldn't care what God says about certain decisions. 

I'm saying that we don't need to pray about it because we already know the answer.

We know the answer, we just don't like it. Maybe we need to pray that God will help us make a decision more cheerfully or do something more willingly, but the question of whether or not we should do certain things is really not a difficult question.

What do you think? Are there times when we don't need to pray, we just need to do what we know is right?

    

And please, do pray.